Practical Politics Assignment #2
PS 110 – Spring 2023
Assignment Details
This assignment challenges you to consider how politics are evident in your own life. Pick one
dimension of your life (school, work, home, hobbies) and discuss a political experience (not
hypothetical – something real). Your paper should address the following items:
1. Describe the situation, identifying why you feel it classifies as a “political”
experience;
2. Identify the political actors (the individuals involved) and their respective
motivations (the things they were fighting for);
3. Describe how power was evident in your situation (who had power, who did not,
and how do you know?)
4. Finally, reflect on how the political actors came to a resolution. In retrospect,
what form of government did the decision-making process most closely
represent? Why?
In addressing these items, please reference Chapter 1 in our textbook as a guide. I expect to see
two direct quotations or ideas from our textbook integrated into your paper.
My 2 quotes are:
“Groups and organized interests also participate in politics. Their political activities include providing funds for candidates, lobbying, and trying to influence public opinion.” page 10
“Another ingredient in participation is political efficacy, the belief that ordinary citizens can affect what government does.” page 12
Hint: A political experience is one in which power is negotiated through some decision-making
process. For example, imagine a mother negotiating boundaries with her child about having
access to the family car.
Citation Guidelines:
When using a direct quote from the textbook, please place the words being quoted in quotations,
followed by the page number in which they appear in parenthesis. For example: As stated by
Ginsberg et al., “insert the direction quotation here” (8).
When citing an idea from the textbook (but not a direct quote), discuss the idea and then place
the page number in which that idea is found in parenthesis. For example: Ginsberg et al. talk
about the importance of coercion as an important foundation of government (6-7).
Since we are all drawing upon the same single source, it is understood that the page numbers you
list reference our textbook. As such, no works cited page is required.
Submission Requirements
Submissions should be approximately 2-3 pages in length, double-spaced in Times New Roman
12-point font. Upload your work as either a Word or PDF document